Two personal injury claims by carpet fitter dismissed

Two personal injury claims by a Dublin carpet fitter for damages totalling €120,000 were thrown out by a judge on Monday.

Judge Rory MacCabe told James Jordan he did not accept his version of events relating to an accident involving a 79-year-old woman and for which he claimed €60,000 damages.

In a second case, in which liability for negligent driving had already been conceded, Judge MacCabe threw out Mr Jordan’s €60,000 damages claim because he failed to disclose to his doctors and the Injuries Board that he was claiming for injury in a third and earlier accident.

Mr Jordan, described as a carpet fitter, of Loachfail House, Outfarm Lane, Carpenterstown Road, Castleknock, Dublin, told defence barrister Conor Kearney he had been sent forward by the District Court for trial accused of a tax fraud involving more than €500,000.

He told Mr Kearney, who appeared for Axa Insurance with Claire Delahunty of Delahunty O'Connor solicitors, that he also faced charges for producing false invoices to a Revenue official as well as not filing correct income tax or VAT returns.

The charges, to which Mr Jordan told the Circuit Civil Court that he had not yet entered a plea, go back to 2007 and accuse him of unlawfully claiming approximately €560,000 in income tax relief. The disclosures before Judge MacCabe on Monday were made during cross-examination by Mr Kearney.

Mr Jordan had sued 79-year-old Margaret Clarke, of Woodview Grove, Blanchardstown, Dublin, on the basis she had driven her Toyota Yaris into his parked Toyota Land Cruiser jeep on 22 October 2014 at her local shopping centre.

Reversed

Ms Clarke told Mr Kearney that Mr Jordan had reversed his 4x4 vehicle from a parking bay into her car and said the damage to her vehicle was just a dent to the rear passenger side wheel arch.

Mr Jordan (50) claimed he had injured his neck in the accident.

He blamed John Connolly, of Arden View, Tullamore, Co Offaly, for causing the second accident only a fortnight later on November 6th, 2014 by driving into the rear of his vehicle at the Five Lamps Petrol Filling Station, Amien Street, Dublin.

He alleged he injured his ankle and his neck, making his neck appreciably more painful than it had been before the second collision.

When Mr Kearney put it to him that he had an accident in October 2013 for which there was another outstanding damages claim and which he had not disclosed to doctors and the Injuries Board, Mr Jordan said he may have overlooked it because he was having marital breakdown issues at the time. He was the husband of Dublin Wives television star Jo Jo Jordan.

Liability for this accident had already been conceded but Mr Kearney, during an assessment of damages, applied to have the case dismissed on the basis of non disclosure. He also sought the dismissal of the case against Ms Clarke on the basis of her evidence that Mr Jordan had reversed into her.

Dismissed

Judge MacCabe dismissed both cases and awarded costs to AXA Insurance and its two customers against Mr Jordan. The judge said he accepted Ms Clarke's version of what had happened and awarded costs in both cases totalling about €25,000 against Mr Jordan.

In a statement afterwards AXA said: “AXA is prepared to defend any case where we have suspicions in relation to personal injury claims and we do this in order to protect our honest policy holders.”

In 2011 Mr Justice Peter Kelly in the Commercial Court granted summary judgment for €4.3 million against the then property developer Mr Jordan over his failure to repay five separate loans from ACC Bank for the purchase of properties in Dublin.

Mr Jordan, at the time, claimed the bank had been fully aware the biggest loan of €2.87million had been purely speculative to exploit 1.7 acres of land at his five-bedroomed detached Castleknock home.